Highlight Header

​​​​​​​​

Related Information

Inside Life Science Archive

Articles That Bring You Inside the Science of Health​​​

Page Content

The
Inside Life Science article series is now published on the
Biomedical Beat blog. Articles published before November 2014 are available below.

Stem Cells Do Geometry | 10/31/2014 Human embryonic stem cells confined to areas of precisely controlled size and shape start to specialize and form organized patterns, opening a new window for studying early development.

Outwitting Antibiotic Resistance | 10/8/2014 Antibiotics save countless lives, but the bacteria and other microbes they're designed to eradicate can evolve ways to evade the drugs. Here are a few examples of research efforts to combat this antibiotic resistance.

Mighty Mitochondria | 9/25/2014 Meet mitochondria: cellular compartments that are best known as the powerhouses that convert energy from the food we eat into energy that runs a range of biological processes.

Improving the Odds of Surviving Sepsis | 8/18/2014 Sepsis is an overwhelming immune response to infection that can lead to organ failure. Recent research focuses on detecting it early, treating it quickly and reducing its later effects.

The Fireworks Inside Us All | 7/9/2014 Here are just a few glimpses into cells captured by scientists in the course of their NIH-funded research.

On the Trail of Drug-Defying Superbugs | 6/11/2014 Studying how bacteria can become resistant to the antibiotics we use to combat them could aid efforts to curb the emergence of antibiotic resistance.

Knowing Networks | 5/14/2014 Systems biologists study living networks to learn how the individual parts work together to make a functioning whole and what happens when these complex, dynamic systems go awry.

A Medicine's Life Inside the Body | 5/1/2014 To aid the design of medicines that are more effective and that produce fewer side effects, scientists are studying each stage of a medicine's life inside the body.

Basic Research Fuels Medical Advances | 4/18/2014 Some 300,000 NIH-funded scientists are working on projects aimed at improving disease diagnosis, treatment and prevention, often through increasing understanding of basic life processes.

Bleach vs. Bacteria | 4/2/2014 Details about how bleach kills—and how bacteria can survive the attack—may lead to the development of new drugs.

Playing Cat-and-Mouse with the Flu | 11/13/2013 Recent studies shed light on the inner workings of the flu—and might aid the development of more effective vaccines, as well as antiviral drugs to treat infection.

Monster Mash: Protein Folding Gone Wrong | 10/31/2013 Gooey protein clumps called amyloid plaques are associated with many chronic and debilitating disorders, and scientists now have a better understanding of how they form and contribute to disease.

Using Genes to Guide Prescriptions | 10/18/2013 Scientists in a research field called pharmacogenomics aim to understand how genes influence individual drug responses. Here are examples of their findings related to different medical conditions.

Imaging HIV's Inner Shell | 7/1/2013 Scientists have determined the complete structure of the cocoon-like container that carries HIV's genome. The details could aid the development of new HIV drugs.

Untangling the Source of Ouch and Itch | 6/12/2013 Using model organisms, scientists are uncovering the cellular source of two important sensations in hopes of resolving chronic pain and itch.

Sticky Stem Cells | 5/30/2013 Scientists have learned how to use the adhesive properties of cells to create a highly efficient method of sorting stem cells, which could speed research on stem cell biology and related therapies.

How Cells Take Out the Trash | 5/15/2013 Understanding the garbage disposal systems that cells use to keep their interiors neat and tidy is shedding light on a range of diseases and potential treatments.

Spotlighting the Ballet of Mitosis [PDF 2.7MB] | 4/17/2013 A powerful light microscope captured this scene from mitosis, revealing details that could lead to a better understanding of how errors in cell division occur.

How Animals Offer Clues to Regeneration | 2/15/2013 Exploring the strategies that some organisms use to regrow missing cells, organs and appendages might help researchers find ways to regenerate lost or injured body parts.

Forecasting Flu | 1/25/2013 A technique that predicts when cities may experience the highest number of flu cases could aid preparedness efforts.

Remarkable RNAs | 1/8/2013 RNA is a versatile molecule that is involved in many essential cellular functions. Here's a quick rundown of types of RNA that scientists are discovering and learning more about.

The Big, Fat World of Lipids | 8/9/2012 Your body contains thousands of other types of fats, or lipids. With improved tools and methods, researchers are learning more about lipid diversity and function.

Once Upon a Stem Cell | 7/18/2012 Learn about some of the substantial strides that researchers have made in understanding different stem cell characters and their fates.

Cilia: Biology's Brooms [PDF 17.1MB] | 6/28/2012 Learning more about basic cilia biology is leading to new insights into how problems with cilia cause diseases.

Five Foul Things That Are Also Good for You [PDF 17.1MB] | 4/4/2012 Usually, we think of mold, feces, nitric oxide, hydrogen sulfide and rat poison as rank, toxic or both. But scientists are learning more about the helpful roles these substances can play.

The Greening of Chemistry | 3/14/2012 Researchers are developing new reactions that make the chemical processes used to manufacture medicines, plastics and other products cleaner, faster and cheaper.

Chromosomal Caps Count Down to Cell Death—Or Cancer [PDF 17.1MB] | 2/23/2012 Every cell in your body has a clock called a telomere that ticks down the number of times it can safely divide. If scientists could make drugs to control telomeres, they could perhaps treat diseases of aging as well as cancer.

Metals: In Sickness and in Health | 2/1/2012 We're not quite Iron Man, but metals are intricately entwined with our bodies. They make vital functions like respiration, circulation and reproduction possible.

Helicases: Unwinding While Staying on Track | 1/11/2012 Like 'The Little Engine That Could,' helicases are hardworking enzymes that don't give up. Without them, your cells would stop dividing and many other important biological processes would come to a halt.

Why Sugars Might Surprise You | 12/8/2011 Sugars are well known as an energy source for our bodies. But did you know that sugar chains made within the body, called glycans, play important roles in just about every aspect of how our cells work?

Drakes: A Mythological Model Organism [PDF 3.2MB] | 11/16/2011 With the aid of Web-based programs that use dragons, high school students are learning about complex genetic concepts and gaining an appreciation for how science is done—all while having fun.

How a Jellyfish Protein Transformed Science | 10/27/2011 From its humble beginnings in glowing jellyfish to its phenomenal success as a tool in labs around the world, green fluorescent protein, or GFP for short, has transformed biomedical research.

Everyday Evolution | 10/6/2011 When you head out to get your annual flu shot, you might be thinking about the brief prick of pain or possible side effects. But are you thinking about evolution? After all, it's why you're getting jabbed.

New Uses for Old Drugs | 8/17/2011 Using computers and genome databases, researchers have predicted new uses for drugs already on the market—identifying potential treatments for 53 human diseases.

The Quake that Brought Back Cholera | 8/10/2011 New tools such as water contaminant sensors and computer models are better equipping scientists, policymakers and public health workers to contain infectious diseases like cholera after disasters strike.

One More Way Plants Help Human Health | 7/13/2011 This is the latest in a long line of research, much of it supported by the National Institutes of Health, that uses plants to solve puzzles in human health.

The Amazing World Inside a Human Cell [PDF 3.2MB] | 6/29/2011 Imagine you've shrunk down to 3 millionths of your normal size. At this scale, a medium-sized human cell looks as big as a football field. Let's take a quick trip inside to see how it works.

A New Use for Census Data: Disease Simulations | 5/18/2011 Researchers have been transforming anonymized census data into a virtual or "synthetic" U.S. population to better model the spread of infectious diseases and improve public health.

Nature: The Master Medicine-Maker | 5/4/2011 Plants, bacteria, fungi and other organisms are a prolific source of new drugs. Chemists seek to discover, examine and modify natural products with the hope of developing new medicines to improve human health.

Cool Tools: Visualizing the Invisible | 4/21/2011 From fluorescence imaging that lights up proteins to electron microscopy that pinpoints cellular structures, visualization techniques have illuminated the inner workings of cells.

What Is an Ontology? | 4/6/2011 Biomedical researchers face a growing problem in trying to manage their knowledge. To make it easier for them to understand and share data, computer scientists are building virtual libraries called ontologies.

For Proteins, Form Shapes Function | 3/23/2011 Every protein has a shape that helps a molecule do its job. Understanding protein shape allows researchers to learn more about protein function in health and disease and how to design new drugs.

The Rhythms of Life | 3/8/2011 A system of biological clocks controls the daily, or circadian, rhythms of the body. These roughly 24-hour cycles of physical, mental and behavioral changes are found in humans and fruit flies, plants and even tiny microbes.

Cellular Suicide: An Essential Part of Life | 2/23/2011 Apoptosis, sometimes called "cellular suicide," is a normal, programmed process of cellular self-destruction. Even though it involves cell death, apoptosis serves a healthy and protective role in our bodies.

Solving the Sleeping Sickness 'Mystery' [PDF 3.2MB] | 2/9/2011 Since before the 1300s, people living in Africa have been dying from a disease known as sleeping sickness. Epidemiologists are working toward eradication by predicting where cases will emerge next.

Understanding Anesthesia | 1/26/2011 Anesthesia helps many of us during our lives. But even though anesthetics have been used for more than 150 years, doctors and scientists still don't know exactly how these medicines work in the body.

Learning From Bacterial Chatter | 1/12/2011 What do digestion, cholera and tooth plaque have in common? They're all made possible by quorum sensing, a form of bacterial communication.

What Drives Seasonal Flu Patterns? | 12/30/2010 Theories abound as to why seasonal flu outbreaks happen in the colder months. Now a single culprit may explain it best: absolute humidity, or the amount of water vapor in the air.

​
What Do Fats Do in the Body? | 12/15/2010 It's common knowledge that too much cholesterol and other fats can lead to disease, and that a healthy diet involves watching how much fatty food we eat. However, our bodies need a certain amount of fat to function.